Understanding licensing for Server 2016

[Huy Le]

This is my first time playing around with a windows server OS. We use 2012 at work, but im currently looking to expand my knowledge on Server 2016 and VMs. I am having some difficulty understanding how the licensing works though as i know it's per core.

I currently have a 16 core, 32 thread xeon in one socket only. If a license of Windows Server 2016 costs $200, how much would i end up paying? I'm confused as to what they mean as 2 core pack licensing as well.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[dicecca112]

This can help you figure out what license you need

Windows Server 2016 Core Pack Licensing Calculator – Welcome to the US SMB&D TS2 Team Blog

 

[PigLover]

One thing I've not been able to figure out with Server 2016 pricing - how can a really small business have a AD setup with redundancy? The Server 2016 "essentials" license looks ideal and easy to manage, but its not at all clear that you can have a second "essentials" license on the same network running a BDC (backup domain controller - or I guess what MS now wants to call a "replica domain controller").

Can anyone confirm whether a second essentials license is allowed to assume this role?

 

[vl1969]

starting with MS Server 2012 there is no PDC or BDC
you can have multiple Domain controllers running any time, in fact I am currently run 2 with synchronization turned on. only one can be the default DC at a time but they run just fine.
I run a redundant Hyper-V cluster on 2 Dell PE730dx and run each DC in a VM, one per node.
i.e. DC1 runs on node1 DC2 on node2. this way if one node is down second pickups the slack.
the DC VMs also run DNS role and DHCP roles with DHCP/DNS lease replication between them again if one VM is down second becomes primary and vice versa

 

[Huy Le]

So i would need to purchase a 16 core license or eight 2 core license packs. How do people afford this for homelabs? lol

What happens if i purchase a 2 core license pack and have 16 cores? Does server 2016 only utilize 2 cores then?

 

[PigLover]

...How do people afford this for homelabs? lol

In the "good old days" you bought a TechNet subscription and got almost all-you-can-eat for your homelab.

Today, for the most part, homelab users say "phoey" to Microsoft and build nearly pure Linux/FreeBSD and possibly throw in free-tier ESX licenses for fun.

There are some things you can do with "Microsoft Azure Pack" licenses, which will run you a recurring ~$450/year or, if you have some connection as a student, there are MSofts "DreamSpark" and "Imagine" programs.

 

[pyro_]

Another option if it is only for temp lab use is to use the 6 month windows trial installs that MS offers

 

[Marsh]

How do people afford this for homelabs?

Invest some time on Microsoft WDS/MDT as well as Auto-deployment like DSC.
Then you could teared down / rebuild your entire lab in minutes.
With 180 days trial, even the trial license expired, the server still function without features crippled.

Also , I buy all the $100 HP I5-4xxx or I5-3xxx business computers that I could get my hands on. HP computers comes with either W7 pro or W8 pro license and allows you to upgrade to Window 10 pro, then you have access to Hyper-V.

The HP business computers comes with Intel network interface, it would run vSphere and all major OS out of the box.

 

[i386]

How do people afford this for homelabs? lol

Microsoft imagine/dreamspark programm

 

[vl1969]

if I am reading the licencing properly, you can have as many essentials license as you want running on network .
Ms licens covers a machine not instances.
i.e.
the server licences covers hardware it is installed on.
for each PHYSICAL hardware (server) you need an appropriate license pack.

difference between Esentials Lic and Standard/datacenter is that later are Core based.
meaning that a standard or datacenter license can be run on a machine(hardware) with at most 2 CPU and/or at most 16 cores total.
so you can have either 2 physical CPU x 8 core each or single physical CPU up to 16 cores. for the price of a single license.
if you have more sockets(a physical CPUs) or more than 16 cores total on 2 sockets, or both you need to buy additional licenses (NOT CALs!!) and add them to the machine.
a single license covers a minimum one socket and 16 cores

e config example of single licence is
a Single !! Server machine (physical or virtual) that have
a 2 socket CPU with 8 core each.
OR
a 1 socket CPU up to 16 cores.

if you have a 2 socket setup where each CPU has more than 8 cores
or a single socket with CPU having more than 16 cores
or more than 2 sockets in the server.
any additional core/sockets will require additional license to run.
so a 4 socket setup will require 2 licenses regardless of core count.

an essential licence give you rights to be run on a Single physical/virtual server setup no core/cpu restrictions BUT
the AD/DC setup only allows 25 users and up-to 50 devices running on AD for the license. so if you are building your framework on Essential licence you will be restricted to 25 user accounts and 50 device on network domain.
and an essential server Must be the 1st AD/DC server in the set

thus you can have multiple servers with Essential lic. running and I am sure you can have at least 2 of them designated as AD/DC with synchronization/failover type setup as long as your infrastructure do not have more than 25 users and 50 devices total.
if you have more you need at least standard lic. for each instance.

 

[marv]

Is it possible for single Essentials license to use two instance setup where one is hypervisor running on hardware with hyperv role installed and other is VM running inside?

 

[vl1969]

not sure, but it does not seam to include any OSEs in the license so you may need a licence for the VM(s) you run inside.

 

[Evan]

Is it possible for single Essentials license to use two instance setup where one is hypervisor running on hardware with hyperv role installed and other is VM running inside?

You could just use the free hyper-v as the hypervisor if this is not allowed, and if if it is allowed my expectation if the hypervisor install is strictly only allowed to be used for hypervisor when you have essentials as the VM.

The advantage of the feee hyper-v is you don't get the limitations like 64gb ram that you have in essentials.

 

[vl1969]

You could just use the free hyper-v as the hypervisor if this is not allowed, and if if it is allowed my expectation if the hypervisor install is strictly only allowed to be used for hypervisor when you have essentials as the VM.

The advantage of the feee hyper-v is you don't get the limitations like 64gb ram that you have in essentials.

no you don't get the limitations but if this is a windows shop, it can get pretty expensive as you add more VMs.

in Free Hypervisor (I assume we are talking Free Hyper-V Core setup here) each VM needs it's own licence.
with any other you get at leaste one licence for VM
as in, an essential let you run a Hardware copy + 1VM on it.
Standard gives you 1 hardware + 2 VMs
and DataCenter gives you 1Hardware + unlimited VMs on a box so if your hardware have enough resources to run 10 windows VMs DataCenter is the one to use.

I wonder what OP infrastructure plans are.

how many servers?
how many Hyper-V servers if any ?
how many VMs on each Hypervisor ?

 

[Evan]

no you don't get the limitations but if this is a windows shop, it can get pretty expensive as you add more VMs.

in Free Hypervisor (I assume we are talking Free Hyper-V Core setup here) each VM needs it's own licence.
with any other you get at leaste one licence for VM
as in, an essential let you run a Hardware copy + 1VM on it.
Standard gives you 1 hardware + 2 VMs
and DataCenter gives you 1Hardware + unlimited VMs on a box so if your hardware have enough resources to run 10 windows VMs DataCenter is the one to use.

I wonder what OP infrastructure plans are.

how many servers?
how many Hyper-V servers if any ?
how many VMs on each Hypervisor ?

I beg to differ here, you can run either bare metal OS or 2 x OSE VM's, the text below is from the document from Microsoft http://download.microsoft.com/downl...vervirtualization_licensemobility_vlbrief.pdf
I am sure the same applies for 2016 but the document has still mentioned 2012 R2


For each license for Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard that you assign to a server you may run, at any one time, two instances of the server software in up to two virtual OSEs on the server. If all two instances are running in virtual OSEs, you can also run an instance in the physical OSE solely to run hardware virtualization software, provide hardware virtualization services, or run software to manage and service OSEs on the licensed server.

 

[vl1969]

I beg to differ here, you can run either bare metal OS or 2 x OSE VM's, the text below is from the document from Microsoft http://download.microsoft.com/downl...vervirtualization_licensemobility_vlbrief.pdf
I am sure the same applies for 2016 but the document has still mentioned 2012 R2


For each license for Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard that you assign to a server you may run, at any one time, two instances of the server software in up to two virtual OSEs on the server. If all two instances are running in virtual OSEs, you can also run an instance in the physical OSE solely to run hardware virtualization software, provide hardware virtualization services, or run software to manage and service OSEs on the licensed server.

I would suggest that you read my reply more carefully please.

Where exactly am I wrong in my explanations ?

I was referring to a FREE Core Hyper-V setup that you suggested to use in the previous post.
the FREE Hyper-V instance has no licences except for it self. the document you referring to clearly states licencing rules for Essential / Standard / DataCenter not the FREE Core setup.

the Hyper-V Core Free server caries no VOSs licenses at all
you can run it only as a hypervisor on a hardware with no other roles applied.
each instance of Guest OS (a VM) needs it's own licence.
the Hyper-V Essentials Licence gives you permission to run an instance baremetal + 1 VM
the Standard adds second VM
and Datacenter can run as many as your hardware can support. (that is as many as you can load on a single physical machine running a copy of Hyper-V server with Datacenter licence applied. )

any other licences except Datacenter, will not let you activate the VM OS automatically.
they will ask for a valid license code to be applied to VM.

there is a way around it , but legally if MS comes knocking on your door you will be liable.

 

[ecosse]

starting with MS Server 2012 there is no PDC or BDC
you can have multiple Domain controllers running any time, in fact I am currently run 2 with synchronization turned on. only one can be the default DC at a time but they run just fine.
I run a redundant Hyper-V cluster on 2 Dell PE730dx and run each DC in a VM, one per node.
i.e. DC1 runs on node1 DC2 on node2. this way if one node is down second pickups the slack.
the DC VMs also run DNS role and DHCP roles with DHCP/DNS lease replication between them again if one VM is down second becomes primary and vice versa

There hasn't been a pure PDC/BDC role in Windows since NT4 days. Unless things have changed dramatically in Windows server 2016 there is a PDC emulator FSMO role but AD since Windows 2000 is essentially a multi-master directory service. Your virtualisation approach is sound but the AD description is wrong (IMHO!)

 

[ecosse]

One thing I've not been able to figure out with Server 2016 pricing - how can a really small business have a AD setup with redundancy? The Server 2016 "essentials" license looks ideal and easy to manage, but its not at all clear that you can have a second "essentials" license on the same network running a BDC (backup domain controller - or I guess what MS now wants to call a "replica domain controller").

Can anyone confirm whether a second essentials license is allowed to assume this role?

I was led to believe that you couldn't. See Install and Configure Windows Server Essentials or Windows Server Essentials Experience
According to the above, if you want the essential server to be an AD server it must be the domain controller at the root of the forest and domain, and must hold all the FSMO roles, so you can't deploy a second one. You could add another Windows 2016 server as another DC as a global catalog server so it could provide a function for short outages (I think, not done AD design for aaages) but since all the FSMO roles are on the essentials server you would run out of object ID's eventually, password changes would not be possible etc if the essentials server was down for any length of time. Since the essentials server must have all the FSMO roles I assume you are unable to transfer them.

In a catastrophic failure it might be useful - you could seize the roles, rebuild the essentials and then transfer them back.. I think... I'm basing this on "Cannot be installed in an environment with a pre-existing Active Directory domain (however, there is a grace period of 21 days for performing migrations)" Not sure what the bit in brackets means exactly though.

As I said, 10 years since I did this sort of stuff so if I'm wrong sure someone will tell me

 

[Evan]

Just to avoid confusions let's not talk about the free hyper-v core at all.

Regarding this:
the Hyper-V Essentials Licence gives you permission to run an instance baremetal + 1 VM
the Standard adds second VM.

That's the bit I don't agree with, when you use the VM function my understanding is that your limited to using only the VM(s) in a functional way not the base OS. That's how I have been told in person as well in discussions with Microsoft.
I know you can use the base OS but it should not technically be used in that was or it's a violation of the license.

 

[GaryD9]

Just to avoid confusions let's not talk about the free hyper-v core at all.

Regarding this:
the Hyper-V Essentials Licence gives you permission to run an instance baremetal + 1 VM
the Standard adds second VM.

That's the bit I don't agree with, when you use the VM function my understanding is that your limited to using only the VM(s) in a functional way not the base OS. That's how I have been told in person as well in discussions with Microsoft.
I know you can use the base OS but it should not technically be used in that was or it's a violation of the license.

My understanding of MS licensing in regards to 2012 R2 Essentials is that you "can" use the bare metal installation _and_ the VM installation both. HOWEVER, it won't work for much because real Essentials want's to be the primary... so if you have anything other than the hyper-v role installed on the bare metal installation, it's going to start spitting out warnings that it has to be the primary controller (or whatever the current lingo is) for the domain and after 2 weeks or so, it'll stop working. On the other hand, you could install other software on the bare metal host if you wanted to... For example, it's very common to have the Windows Server Backup "Feature" (not role) installed on the host OS... as well as Intel Proset applications, etc. (Remember that its usually a Very Bad Ideal to have stuff installed on the management OS.)

I don't know how this all works with Server 2016 Essentials. I've since moved on to using Server Std + Essentials Role (which gives me all the buggy Essentials toys without the Essentials limits... but I'm responsible for CALs that I wouldn't need with a pure Essentials installation.)